Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-05-20
LONDON BUSINESS.
THE ENGLISH METHOD SEEMS AN.
TIouATEo TO AN AMERICAN.

ttQOA1GO IL AN AMEfNtCFAtNs
Some Peculiarities in Banking-Caution
Exercised In Opening New Accounts
A Crossed" Checlx--Old Trims and
Their Numerous Branches.
To the American the methods of con-
Quoting business in London seem slow and
antiquated There is an evident desire on
the part of many large firms 10 make the
transaction of business difficult instead of
easy There is an outer inquiry office at
which you must give your name TO clerk
who often intimates by his looks that he
is conferring favor by taking it; the
name is passed on to an inner office and
Won are probably told TO take seat in q
reception room until the principals are ut
liberty to see you. All this contrasts
strongly with the accessibility of business
men in America.
The greatest caution is exercised in the
opening of new accounts Before you can
buy goods you must first either be intro
duced by an old customer or establish
your respectability and solvency. If YOU
step into large bank in London and put
your money on the counter and ask to buy
n draft on New York, Berlin or Paris you
will be told that they do not know you
and can only sell drafts to their regular
customers or to people introduced by
them. There is no question that the
money you offer is not good, but they do
not know YOU
STILL A STRANGER.
was once, years ago, refused draft
in a bank in which had special deposit
of money at interest, and, notwithstand-
ing brought the clerk from the special
deposit department Of the bank to vouch
for my identity, the draft clerk told me:
"Ah, yesl you have a special deposit in
that department, but special deposits are
received from any one without introduce
ton, and really, since you have never
been introduced to the bank, you are still
in the position of stranger to us, and
we cannot sell you the draft.
Another banking custom that seems
strange to us is that open checks mot
"crossed'1 are paid to strangers without
Identification. IL you have check pay
able to "John Jones'' or order, the bank
| does not require that you be identified as
| John Jones, but you present the check,
indorse your name John Jones on the
back and receive the money in bills or gold
But most checks are "crossed" and not
ssopen checks and you cannot get the
payment of ''crossedn check by present
| ing 1t personally at the bank, no matter
how much you may be identified. TO
sscrossr q check you draw two parallel
lines across the face of it, and write be-
tween them either the name of the bank
with whom the person to whom the check
is payable intends to deposit it, or simply
/ the terminal words ''&5 Co.; - any check SO
'scrossed'' must be deposited in q bank for
collection and presented by bank mes
sengcr for payment. This crossing OF
checks thus forms an almost absolute
safeguard against payment to the wrong
persons. 1t might be adopted with ad
vantage in other countries.
WITH A DOZEN BRANCHES.
Some of the London banks have de
Sts of 800, 000,0 600 and $4,000 600
',a 4,ssn.is the total OF deposits of the 1mar
,,I pue .iiis' - .aaasCity cf London" of its
S 5.'aA ~ 'ne of branches in '.largel
oTeh IoTdo, - :, o1,d ,,J ;t irty or forty countrl
branches, so that to CO.. - ...ith III :
OF the largest London banks ~
the largest New York banks woul
be fair, unless you added to the
of the New York banks the de
all their correspondent banks
The principal of subsidiary bl
| carried through many other
Some of the clothing and
houses, the grocers and provi
tea merchants, fruit stores.
cleaners, restaurants, bookse
TONERS have from six to
establishments. Oftentime
or three shops on the samS
| ing TO the same firm. It'll
shop on any Of the main
London can afford to d
toner, because the crt
passing the door viii continue
new victims year after year 1t
that experience proves that when fne
number OF people passing is 90 great that
the opening Of one or two new sbops In
the same street by the same firm does not
affect the business of the old house. But
many old firms cling to the old and often
dingy premises long after they have out
grown them. Age in London is the great
badge Of respectability. HOd estab-
Hshed, business established over fifty
years. or Zone hundred years, - is seen
IN shop fronts almost as often as ssTo the
Queen" "Patronizel y the Royal Fam
iy." For this reason you find some of
the largest firms in the city in Tie little
alleys, lanes or courts, where they first
started.--London Cor. Philadelphia Times
A worn car wheel thread, examined un-
der tae microscope, shows that the sur
face OF the metal comes OF in thin fakes
or scales
A 20o-Year-oId Clock.
A curiosity in Mr.. Wakefeld's shop Is
Dutch clock, 200 years old, which evi-
IDENTIFY has been q part Of much interesting
history. 1t is an ugly little block Ct d
clock, seven or eight inches square. that